Desserts form the last course of a meal and would normally consist of any combination of cheese, sweet dishes, and fresh fruit . The word comes from desservir (to re­move that which has been served) and consequently means everything offered to guests after the previous dishes and corre­ sponding serving utensils have been cleared away. However, its meaning has gradually changed, especially as far as sweet dishes are concerned. In former times at great banquets, dessert, which was the fifth course of the meal, was often presented in magnificent style. Large set pieces fashioned in pastry , were placed on the table at the beginning of the meal. These owed more to architecture than to the art of cooking, and had a purely decorative function. Just before the sweet course, a multitude of sweets were elegantly arranged on the ta­ ble with the set pieces, for every ceremo­ nial table was laid in accordance with a de­ tailed plan. The dishes had to harmonize with gold plate, crystal, magnificent bas­kets of fruit, and the tall candelabra: a magnificent spectacle. It was not until about 1850 that the word 'dessert' took on its present meaning. In ancient times, meals generally ended with fresh or dried fruit, milk or cheese dishes, or honey. In the Middle Ages, the main sweet dishes, often served between meat courses, consisted of jellies, flans, blancmanges, tarts, compotes, flat round cakes, fancy pastry, poached pastry, waf­fles, and various other small cakes. By the 17th century, desserts had become more elaborate and were decorated with flowers. They included marzipan, nougat, pyramids of fruit, dry and liquid pre­ serves, biscuits, creams, sugar sweets, sweet almonds in sugar and orange-flower water, green walnuts, pistachios, and marrons glaces. At the end of the century, ice creams made their appearance, and at the same time patisserie became extremely diversified, with different basic mixtures, such as puff pastry, sponge, choux pastry, and meringue. In the 20th century, instant desserts have been provided by the food industry in the form of various powders, etc., which can be mixed with milk to produce flavoured desserts. The best desserts consist of well-flavoured good foods that do not take long to eat. What could be more suitable than cheese? . . . However a famous French Chef stated that : "There is no good formal dinner without a dessert of patisserie and pre­ serves. The idea of a dinner finishing with the cheese course would be, for me, so in­ congruous that it would never even cross my mind!". Other chefs admire the visual splendour of a good dessert, while at the same time stating “The dessert crowns the dinner. To create a fine dessert, one has to combine the skills of a confectioner, a dec­ orator, a painter, an architect, an ice- cream manufacturer, a sculptor, and a flo­ rist. The splendour of such creations ap­ peals above all to the eye - the real gour­ mand admires them without touching them! The magnificence of the dessert should not allow one to forget the cheese. Cheese complements a good dinner and supplements a bad one."

 

Pastries (patisserie) Sweet or savoury pastries and cakes gen­ erally baked in the oven. The term also applies to the art of the pastrycook who usually makes sweet things: hot, cold, or iced desserts, all types of cakes, Quiches, vols-au-vent, tarts, and confectionery (which includes working with sugar, crystallized (candied) fruits, almond paste, nougatine, decora­ tions, etc.), also uses sweetened creams and sweet sauces. Prehistoric man made sweet foods based on maple or birch syrup, wild hon­ey, fruits, and seeds. It is thought that the idea of cooking a cereal paste on a stone in the sun to make pancakes began as far back in time as the Neolithic age. The Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and then the Gauls prepared pancakes with maize (corn), wheat, or barley, mixed with pop­ py seeds, aniseed, fennel, or coriander. Gingerbread and puddings date back to antiquity . In the Middle Ages in France , the work of bakers overlapped with that of pastrycooks: bakers made gingerbread and meat, cheese, and vegetable pies. However, it was the Crusaders who gave a decisive impetus to patisserie, by discovering sugar cane and puff pastry in the East. This led to pastrycooks, bakers, and restaurateurs all claiming the same products as their own specialities, and var­ ious disputes arose when one trade en­croached upon the other. Major developments of the pastrycooks art came in the 19th century via the innovative French chef Careme, to whom tradition attributes nougat, meringue, the croquembouche, vols-au-vent, and the perfecting of puff pastry. Other great 19th-century pas­ trycooks include Rouget, the Julien broth­ ers, Chiboust, Coquelin, Stohrer, Quillet, Bourbonneux, Seugnoy etc., who en­ riched the patisserie repertoire with the mille-feuille, Saint-Honore, bourdaloue, napolitain, Genoa cake, mocha cake, trois-freres, savarin, gorenflot, and many others.

 

BREAD has been the staple diet for must of the worlds peoples for thousands of years. Virtually every country in the world has seed bearing plants that have proved very palatable to eat, in Europe and America we tend mainly to concentrate on corn, wheat, rye, barley, maize etc. All of these produce a seed which we call grain, this after ripening can be pounded or ground tp produce flour.

Mixing this flour with water formed a dough that could be shaped into cakes and bake, thus producing a product that was tasty, nutricious and easey to handle, it also provided for many the major source of carbohydrate.

It was found that if this bread and water dough was left for several hours that the dough had increased in volume and had become spongy in texture, this was due to the sugers in the flour having fermented, Sourdough had been discovered, and improved both the flavour and texture of the bread. This is still a traditional bread today although the bread making process has been much improved with the introduction of yeasts which speed up the fermentation process.

 

Preserving in general terms are the techniques used to enable foods in particular to have a "longer shelf life". For the majority of people this involves the bottling fruits or vegetables, making jams or marmalades, pickling (savoury and sweet) or drying (herbs).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

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